Plymouth

Plymouth, city (1991 pop. 238,583) and district, Devon, SW England, on Plymouth Sound. The three towns that Plymouth has comprised since 1914 are Plymouth, Stonehouse, and Devonport. Modern Plymouth is well situated on a peninsula between the estuaries of the Plym and Tamar rivers. The southern waterfront and adjacent promenade are called the Hoe. The city is an important port and naval base. Foodstuffs and raw materials are imported, and manufactures such as machine tools, precision instruments, and chemicals are exported. Other items traded are granite, marble, kaolin, and fish. In Stonehouse is a Royal Naval Hospital (1762). The Royal Marine Barracks and Naval Dockyard (1691) are in Devonport. In 1588 the port was the rendezvous of the anti-Armada fleet. From there Sir Francis Drake, Sir Richard Hawkins, Sir Walter Raleigh, and several later explorers set forth. It was the last port touched by the Mayflower before its American voyage. Plymouth was held by the parliamentarians for four years during the civil war, when the rest of Devon and Cornwall were royalist. The first English factory to make Chinese porcelain was established in Plymouth in 1768. A tablet commemorates the arrival in 1919 of the first transatlantic airplane. Among the principal points of interest on the Hoe are the old Royal Citadel (17th cent.), the upper part of Smeaton's lighthouse brought from Eddystone, an Armada memorial, and a naval war memorial. Also noteworthy are the marine-biological laboratories, the aquarium, the City Museum and Art Gallery, the Gothic guildhall, several 15th-, 16th-, and 17th-century churches, and the Roman Catholic cathedral. The Royal Naval Engineering College is in Devonport, and technical and teacher-training schools are located in Plymouth.

Plymouth. 1 Uninc. town (1990 pop. 45,608), seat of Plymouth co., SE Mass., on Plymouth Bay; founded 1620. Diverse light manufacturing is important to the economy. The town, with summer resort facilities and major historic attractions, has a large tourist industry. Its harbor, now used by fishing boats and leisure craft, was the scene of the famous landing by the Pilgrims in 1620, and Plymouth was the first permanent European settlement in New England (see Pilgrims; Plymouth Colony). Most famous of its many monuments is Plymouth Rock, returned to its original site in 1880; according to legend, the Pilgrims stepped on this boulder when disembarking from the Mayflower. The Mayflower II, a replica of the original ship, is moored there. The sites of the first houses are marked by tablets on Leyden St., the first street laid out by the Pilgrims. A number of 17th-century houses on nearby streets are maintained as museums. Cole's Hill and Burial Hill contain graves of many of the first settlers, and Pilgrim Hall has numerous valuable relics. Near the site of the original village is the 80-ft (24-m) granite National Monument to the Forefathers (1889). Nearby Plimoth Plantation is a re-creation of the early settlement. The town also has a wax museum and a marine museum and aquarium. Myles Standish State Forest is to the south.

2 Village (1990 pop. 50,889), Hennepin co., SE Minn., NW of Minneapolis; inc. 1955. There is diversified manufacturing in Plymouth, which is a rapidly growing residential suburb of the twin cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul.

City (pop., 2000: 51,701), southeastern Massachusetts, U.S. Located on Plymouth Bay, it was the site of the first permanent European settlement in New England, the Colony of New Plymouth, founded by the Pilgrims in 1620 and governed under the Mayflower Compact until 1691, when it became part of Massachusetts Bay Colony. Its seaside location and historic associations make Plymouth an outstanding summer resort. A tourist-based economy is supplemented by light industry, fishing, and cranberry growing. Historical attractions include Plimoth Plantation (a recreation of the original Pilgrim village) and many restored early colonial houses.

Learn more about Plymouth with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym and Tamar, where they join Plymouth Sound. Since 1967 the unitary authority of Plymouth has included the suburbs of Plympton and Plymstock, which are on the east side of the River Plym.

Plymouth’s history goes back to the Bronze Age, when its first settlement grew at Mount Batten. This settlement continued to grow as a trading post for the Roman Empire, until the more prosperous village of Sutton, the current Plymouth, surpassed it. In 1620 the Pilgrim Fathers left Plymouth for the New World, establishing the first colony of the United States of America. During the English Civil War the town was held by the Parliamentarians and was besieged between 1642 and 1646.

Throughout the Industrial Revolution Plymouth grew as a major shipping port, handling imports and passengers from the Americas and the construction of ships, ranging from small fishing boats to battleships for the Royal Navy. This later led to its targeting and partial destruction during World War Two, an act known as the Plymouth Blitz. After the war the city centre was completely rebuilt.

Today the city is home to nearly 250,000 people, making it the 15th most populous city in England. It has its own city council and is represented nationally by three MPs. Plymouth’s economy is still strongly influenced by shipbuilding, but has since the 1990s become a more service-based economy with the 11th largest university in the United Kingdom. Its naval base, HMNB Devonport is the largest operational naval base in Western Europe. Plymouth has ferry links to France and Spain and an airport with international services.

History

Early history

Upper Palaeolithic deposits, including bones of Homo sapiens, have been found in local caves, and artifacts dating from the Bronze Age to the Middle Iron Age have been found at Mount Batten showing that it was one of the main trading ports of the country at that time. The settlement of Plympton, further up the River Plym than the current Plymouth, was also an early trading port, but the river soon silted up and forced the mariners and merchants to settle at the current day Barbican near the river mouth.. At the time this village was called Sutton, meaning south town in Saxon. The name Plymouth, a back-formation from Plympton ("Plum-tree town"), was first mentioned in a Pipe Roll of 1211.

Early defence and Renaissance

During the Hundred Years' War a French attack (1340) burned a manor house and took some prisoners, but failed to get into the town. In 1403 the town was burned by Breton raiders. A series of fortifications were built in the Tudor and Elizabethan era, which include the four round towers featured on the city coat of arms; the remains of two of these can still be found at Mount Batten and at Sutton Pool below the Royal Citadel.

During the 16th century, Plymouth was the home port for successful maritime traders, among them Sir John Hawkins, who led England's first foray into the Atlantic slave trade, as well as Sir Francis Drake, who, according to legend, insisted on completing his game of bowls on the Hoe before engaging the Spanish Armada in 1588. During their time locally produced wool was the major export commodity. In 1620 the Pilgrim Fathers set sail for the New World from Plymouth, establishing the first colony of the United States of America.

During the English Civil War Plymouth sided with the Parliamentarians and was besieged for almost four years by the Royalists. Construction of the Royal Citadel began in 1665, after the Restoration; it was armed with cannon facing both out to sea and into the town, rumoured to be a reminder to residents not to oppose the Crown.

Rise of naval power

Throughout the 17th century Plymouth had gradually lost its pre-eminence as a trading port. By the mid-1600s commodities manufactured elsewhere in England cost too much to transport to Plymouth and the city had no means of processing sugar or tobacco imports, although it played a relatively small part in the Atlantic slave trade during the early 1700s. In 1690 the first Royal Dockyard opened on the banks of the Tamar and further docks were built in 1727, 1762 and 1793. In the 18th century new houses were built near the dock, called Plymouth Dock at the time, and a new town grew up. In 1712 there were 318 men employed and by 1733 it had grown to a population of 3,000 people.

Prior to the latter half of the 18th century grain, timber and then coal were the greatest imports. During this time the real source of wealth and the major employer in the region became the dockyard. The Three Towns enjoyed some prosperity during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century and were enriched by a series of neo-classical urban developments designed by London architect John Foulston. Foulston was important for the town and was responsible for several grand public buildings, many now destroyed, including the Athenaeum, the Theatre Royal and Royal Hotel, and much of Union Street. Some of the greatest imports to Plymouth from the Americas and Europe during the latter half of the 19th cenury included maize, wheat, barley, sugar cane, guano, sodium nitrate and phosphate. Aside from the dockyard, other industries such as the gasworks, the railways and tramways and a number of small chemical works had begun to develop in the 19th century continuing into the 20th century.

Twentieth Century

The city was heavily bombed by the Germans during World War II in a series of 59 raids known as the Plymouth Blitz. Although the dockyards were the principal targets, much of the city centre and over 3,700 houses were completely destroyed and more than 1,000 civilians lost their lives. The redevelopment of the city was planned by Sir Patrick Abercrombie and by 1964 over 20,000 new homes had been built, but, despite this, in 1971 over ten percent of the houses in Plymouth were still occupied by more than one family. Devonport Dockyard was kept busy refitting aircraft carriers such as the Ark Royal. By the time this work ended in the late 1970s the nuclear submarine base was operational. The army had substantially left the city by 1971, with barracks pulled down in the 1960s, however the city has become home to more Royal Marines.

Governance

Local government history

Plymouth's first recording of existence was in the Domesday Book in 1086 as Sudtone, Saxon for south farm, located at the present day Barbican. In 1254 it gained status as a town and in 1439, became the first town in England to be granted a Charter by Parliament. In 1914 the county boroughs of Plymouth and Devonport, and the urban district of East Stonehouse merged to form a single county borough of Plymouth. Collectively they were referred to as "The Three Towns". A provisional order was made on 2 May 1914, to come into effect in November. Plymouth was granted city status on 18 October 1928. The city's first Lord Mayor was appointed in 1935 and its boundaries further expanded in 1967 to include the town of Plympton and the parish of Plymstock.

The 1971 Local Government White Paper proposed abolishing county boroughs, which would have left Plymouth, a town of 250,000 people, being administered from a council based at the smaller Exeter, on the other side of the county. This led to Plymouth lobbying for the creation of a Tamarside county, to include Plymouth, Torpoint, Saltash, and the rural hinterland. The campaign was not successful, and Plymouth ceased to be a county borough on 1 April 1974 with responsibility for education, social services, highways and libraries transferred to Devon County Council. All powers returned when the city become a unitary authority on 1 April 1998 under recommendations of the Banham Commission.

City Council

The City of Plymouth is divided into 20 wards, 17 of which elect three councillors and the other three electing two councillors, making up a total council of 57. Each year a third of the council is up for election for three consecutive years — there are no elections on the following "fourth" year, which coincides with county council elections. The total electorate for Plymouth was 184,956 in December 2003. The local election of May 2008 resulted in a political composition of 37 Conservative and 20 Labour. As of 2009 or 2010, the next general election, the constituencies of Devonport and Sutton will merge to become Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, whilst a new constituency, Plymouth Moor View, will be formed to the north of the city taking in wards from Devonport.

Since 6 May 1935 Plymouth has been granted the dignity of Lord Mayor, which is elected each year on the third Friday of May by a group of six people. It is tradition that the political alias of the Lord Mayor alternates between Conervative and Labour annually and that the Lord Mayor choses the Deputy Lord Mayor. As of May 2008 and until May 2009 Brian Vincent holds the position of Lord Mayor for the Labour Party.

The Lord Mayor's official residence is 3 Elliot Terrace, located on the Hoe. Once a home of Waldorf and Nancy Astor, it was given by Lady Astor to the City of Plymouth as an official residence for future Lord Mayors and is also used today for civic hospitality, as lodgings for visiting dignitaries and High Court judges and it is also available to hire for private events. The Civic Centre municipal office building in Armada Way became a listed building in June 2007 because of its quality and period features, but has become the centre of a controversy as the council disagrees.

In Parliament, Plymouth is represented by the three constituencies of Plymouth Devonport, Plymouth Sutton and South West Devon. As of the 2005 General Election Devonport and Sutton are held by Labour MPs Alison Seabeck and Linda Gilroy with South West Devon held by Conservative MP Gary Streeter. The city is part of South West England and Gibraltar in the European parliament.

Plymouth City Council is formally twinned with:

• Brest, Brittany, France (twinned 1963)
• Gdynia, Pomeranian Province, Poland (twinned 1976)
• Novorossiysk, Krasnodar Krai, Russia (twinned 1990)
• San Sebastián, Basque Country, Spain (twinned 1990)
• , United States (twinned 2001)

Geography

Plymouth lies between the River Plym to the east and the River Tamar to the west; both rivers flow into the natural harbour of Plymouth Sound. The River Tamar forms the county boundary between Devon and Cornwall and its estuary forms the Hamoaze on which is sited Devonport Dockyard. The River Plym, which flows off Dartmoor to the north east, forms a smaller estuary to the east of the city called Cattewater. Plymouth Sound is protected from the sea by the Plymouth Breakwater, in use since 1814. In the Sound is Drake's Island which is seen from Plymouth Hoe, a flat public area on top of limestone cliffs. The Unitary Authority of Plymouth is 30.8 square miles (79.78 km²), but the city of Plymouth, as cited from Plymouth City Council, is 30.61 square miles (79.29 km²). The topography rises from sea level to a height, at Roborough, of about 509 feet (155 m) above Ordnance Datum (AOD).

The geology of Plymouth has a mixture of Limestone, Devonian slate, Granite and Middle Devonian Limestone. The bulk of the city is built upon Upper Devonian slates and shales and the headlands at the entrance to Plymouth Sound are formed of Lower Devonian slates, which can withstand the power of the sea. A band of Middle Devonian limestone runs west to east from Cremyll to Plymstock including the Hoe. Local limestone may be seen in numerous buildings, walls and pavements throughout Plymouth. To the north and north east of the city is the granite mass of Dartmoor, which was mined and exported via Plymouth — rocks brought down river from Dartmoor has given rise to ores containing tin, copper, tungsten, lead and other minerals in the Tamar Valley. There is evidence that the middle Devonian limestone belt in the south edge of Plymouth and in Plymstock was quarried at West Hoe, Cattedown and Radford. Currently quarrying takes place at two sites in Plymstock where the limestone has been worked over the last hundred years.

On 27 April 1944 Sir Patrick Abercrombie's Plan for Plymouth was published to rebuild the city. It called for the destruction of the few remaining pre-War buildings in the city centre and their replacement with wide, modern boulevards aligned east-west linked by a north-south avenue (Armada Way) providing access from the railway station with Plymouth Hoe. Prefabs were built by 1946, followed by over a thousand permanent council houses built each year from 1951–1957. By 1964 over 20,000 new homes had been built, more than 13,500 of them permanent council homes and 853 built by the Admiralty. Plymouth is home to 28 parks with an average size of . Its largest park is Central Park with other sizeable green spaces including Victoria Park, Freedom Fields Park, Alexandra Park, and the Hoe.

Climate

Along with the rest of South West England, Plymouth has a temperate climate which is generally wetter and milder than the rest of England. The annual mean temperature is approximately and shows a seasonal and a diurnal variation, but due to the modifying effect of the sea the range is less than in most other parts of the UK. February is the coldest month with mean minimum temperatures between and . July and August are the warmest months with mean daily maxima over .

South West England has a favoured location with respect to the Azores high pressure when it extends its influence north-eastwards towards the UK, particularly in summer. Coastal areas have average annual sunshine totals over 1,600 hours.

Rainfall tends to be associated with Atlantic depressions or with convection. The Atlantic depressions are more vigorous in autumn and winter and most of the rain which falls in those seasons in the south-west is from this source. Average annual rainfall is around . The number of days with snow falling is typically fewer than ten per winter. November to March have the highest mean wind speeds, with June to August having the lightest winds. The predominant wind direction is from the south-west.

Demography

In 2005, Plymouth's population was estimated at 246,100 by Plymouth City Council, 5,380 more people than that of the last census from 2001, which indicated that Plymouth had a population of 240,720. The average household size was 2.3 persons. To the right is a graph showing the population change of the city since 1801. The population rose rapidly during the second half of the 19th century. The decline of over 1.6% from 1931 to 1951. Plymouth's GVA (a measure of its economy) was 3.501 billion GBP in 2004 making up aprroximately one quarter of Devon's economy. Its GVA per capita was £14,327 and compared to the national average ,of £17,115, it was £2,788 lower. Between 1997 and 2007 unemployment decreased from 10.8% to 6.2%, but unemployment in the city still remains significantly above the national average. At the time of the 2001 UK census, the ethnic composition of Plymouth's population was 98.4% White, with the largest minority ethnic group being Chinese at 0.3%.

Economy

Because of its coastal location, the economy of Plymouth has traditionally been maritime, in particular the defence sector. The long-term decline of this and other heavy industries had a negative effect on the city's employment figures and caused diversification towards a service-based economy based on healthcare, food and drink, call centres and tourism. Electronics, advanced engineering and boat building (notably Princess Yachts) still maintain a prime role, however. The Devonport Dockyard is the UK's only naval base that refits nuclear submarines and it's estimated that 10% of Plymouth's income is generated. Plymouth has the largest cluster of marine and maritime businesses in the south west with 270 firms operating within the sector. Thirty thousand university students together with teaching and support staff now make higher education a powerful influence.

Plymouth has a large, entirely post-war, shopping area in the city centre. Most of the shops had been destroyed in the Blitz and those that remained were cleared to enable a huge zoned reconstruction according to the 1943 plan. As the new buildings were completed, shops returned from their temporary wartime premises and throughout the 1950s and 60s the city boasted one of the largest and modern shopping centres in the west of England. There was substantial pedestrianisation, more car parks, and a pannier market at the west end of the zone inside a now-listed grade II building that was completed in 1959. In terms of retail floorspace Plymouth is ranked in the top five in the South West, and 29th nationally. Plymouth was one of the first ten British cities to trial the new Business Improvement District initiative.

The city's tourism potential is mainly based on its historical connections, especially those related to Francis Drake, the final sailing of the Mayflower from the Barbican, and the view from the Hoe. Although Plymouth has no pleasure beaches, Tinside Pool, a large lido that was restored in 2003, is at the foot of the Hoe. The city does not have a great deal of tourist accommodation compared to districts like Torbay: in 2006 it had just over 6,000 bed spaces, compared to Torbay's 44,000.

Plymouth 2020

Plymouth Council is currently undertaking a project of urban redevelopment called the 'Vision for Plymouth' launched by the architect David Mackay and backed by Plymouth City Council. Its projects range from Shopping centres, Cruise Terminals and a boulevard to reaching a population of 300,000 and building 33,000 dwellings.

Significant regeneration has occurred since 2002 with the old Drake Circus shopping centre and Charles Cross car park being demolished in 2004 and being replaced by the latest Drake Circus Shopping Centre, which opened in October 2006. The council has encouraged cafés to create outdoor eating areas; and the clearing of a large public area in Armada Way has enabled farmers' markets and other street markets as well as exhibitions, entertainments and festivals.

As of 2007, the former Ballard Leisure Centre is being replaced with residential and office space along with a project involving the future demolition of the Bretonside bus station to build a new civic complex. In Drake Circus the Roland Levinsky Building, part of Plymouth University opened in 2007. Other suggestions include the demolition of the Plymouth Pavilions entertainment arena to create a canal 'boulevard' linking Millbay to the city centre. Millbay is being regenerated with mixed residential, retail and office space alongside the ferry port.

Transport

Plymouth has no motorway links but the national network is accessible via the A38 dual-carriageway Devon Expressway to the M5 motorway which starts about east near Exeter. The A38 Parkway runs from east to west across the geographical centre of the city. The Tamar Bridge to the west of the city provides vehicle access to Cornwall from the A38 Parkway to Saltash.

Plymouth Citybus provides bus services to suburban areas of the city and First Group provides other services within the city (including park and ride) and in the surrounding area. Stagecoach Devon provides services to Exeter and Paignton, and Western Greyhound provides services to Liskeard and Newquay. From the Bretonside Bus station located near to Drake Circus, National Express and other operators run long distance coach services to London and many parts of the UK.

A regular international ferry service provided by Brittany Ferries operates from Millbay taking cars and foot passengers directly to France and Spain. There is a passenger ferry between Stonehouse and the Cornish hamlet of Cremyll and a water-bus from the Mayflower Steps to Mount Batten. The city also has an alternative to using the Tamar Bridge via the Torpoint Ferry across the River Tamar.

The city's only airport is Plymouth City Airport; a small airfield located in the suburb of Derriford north of the city centre, just off the A386 road to Tavistock. The airport is home to the local airline Air Southwest who operate flights across the British Isles.

The city's central and largest railway station, Plymouth railway station, is an important First Great Western station on the London to Penzance Line and also sees trains on the CrossCountry and South West Trains networks. Smaller stations are served by local trains on the Tamar Valley Line and Cornish Main Line. First Great Western have come under fire recently, due to widespread rail service cuts across the south west, which affect Plymouth greatly. Three MPs from the three main political parties in the region have joined together to put across the message that the train services are vital to its economy.

Education

Plymouth is home to the 11th largest university in the United Kingdom (excluding the Open University), the University of Plymouth. It is the largest university in south west England with over 30,000 students, almost 3,000 staff and an annual income of around £110 million. It was founded as a college of technology and then becoming a polytechnic it also absorbed the School of Maritime Studies. It has courses in maritime business, marine engineering, marine biology and Earth, ocean and environmental sciences, surf science, shipping and logistics.

The city is also home to three large colleges. The University College Plymouth St Mark & St John (Marjon), which specialises in teacher training, offers training across the country and abroad. The City College Plymouth provides courses from the most basic to Foundation degrees for approximately 26,000 students. The Plymouth College of Art and Design (known as PCAD) offers a selection of courses including Media. It was started 153 years ago and is now one of only four independent colleges of art and design in the UK. Plymouth also has 75 state primary phase schools, 14 state secondary schools and eight special schools. It has three selective state grammar schools and two independent schools: Kings School (run by Cognita) at Hartley, and Plymouth College at Mutley.

Plymouth is home to Plymouth Marine Laboratory, an independent collaborative centre, who study the area for scientific research. They study the marine ecosystems in and near Plymouth to provide future solutions for marine extinctions across the United Kingdom.

Religion

Plymouth has about 150 churches and its Catholic cathedral (1858) is in Stonehouse. The city's oldest church is St Andrews (Anglican) located at the top of Royal Parade — it's the biggest parish church in Devon has been a site of gathering since 800 AD. The city also includes five baptist churches, an Orthodox Greek church and 13 Roman Catholic churches. In 1831 the first Brethren assembly in England, a movement of conservative non-denominational Evangelical Christians, was established in the city, so that Brethren are often called Plymouth Brethren, although the movement did not begin locally.

Plymouth has the first known reference to Jews in the South West from Sir Francis Drake's voyages in 1577 to 1580, as his log mentioned "Moses the Jew" — a man from Plymouth. Their synagogue is a Listed Grade II* building, build in 1762 and is the oldest Ashkenazi Synagogue in the English speaking world. There are also places of worship for Islam, Bahá'í, Buddhism, Chinese beliefs and Humanism.

73.6% of the population are Christian with all other religions represented by less than 0.5% each. The number of people without a religion is above the national average at 18.3%, with 7.1% not stating their religion.

Sports

Plymouth is home to Plymouth Argyle Football Club, who play in the Football League Championship (second tier of English football) at the Home Park stadium in Central Park. It is Plymouth's only professional football team, however the city used to have another team called Plymouth United F.C. dating back to 1886. It links itself with the group of English non-conformists that left Plymouth for the New World in 1620: its nickname is "The Pilgrims"; the club crest features the Mayflower; and the club's mascot is named Pilgrim Pete.

Other notable sports clubs include Plymouth Albion R.F.C. and the Plymouth Raiders basketball club. Plymouth Albion Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club that was founded in 1875 and are currently in the second tier of English rugby union. Plymouth Raiders play in the top tier of British Bastketball, the British Basketball League. They play at the Plymouth Pavilions, along with many other sports clubs and were founded in 1983. Plymouth is also home to two American Football clubs: The Plymouth Admirals and the Plymouth Blitz.

Culture

Plymouth has theatres, cinemas and art galleries as well as television stations. Outdoor events and festivals are held including the British Fireworks Championship and The Music of the Night, an outdoor production held every two years in The Royal Citadel when amateurs sing to service unit musicians. The Plymouth Morris Men perform throughout the year at many events and venues. In August 2006 the world record for the most amount of simultaneous fireworks was surpassed, by Roy Lowry of the University of Plymouth, over Plymouth Sound.

The city's main theatre, Theatre Royal is a provincial producing theatre and incorporates a studio theatre (The Drum). Its production and education centre, TR2, is in an award-winning building at Cattedown. The University has two well-equipped theatres within the Roland Levinsky Building. Amateurs perform at the Athenaeum Theatre, Devonport Playhouse, and the Globe Theatre (within Stonehouse barracks). The Plymouth Pavilions stages music concerts from rock and pop to ballet, as well as hosting basketball, wrestling and line dancing. There is a multiplex cinema at the Barbican Leisure Centre and a cinema at Derry's Cross. In Looe Street, Plymouth Arts Centre has a two screen cinema specialising in art house and foreign films.

At the heart of Plymouth's nightlife is Union Street. It used to be renowned for its prostitutes supplied to sailors from the Royal Navy docking in Plymouth. It was lined with music halls and cinemas, but is now run down. Today, it is still home to a number of bars, clubs and casinos open late into the morning. Fights, public indecency and noise pollution are frequent on Friday and Saturday nights, a consequence of binge drinking, which have required a police presence for over a century. Other clubs and bars are on North Hill, on Mutley Plain, and on Lockyer Street.

Plymouth is regional television centre of BBC South West. ITV's television studio at Langage is to close in 2008. The regional stations include BBC Radio Devon, BBC Radio Cornwall, South Hams Radio, Plymouth Sound and Pirate FM. The main regional newspaper is the Western Morning News, whose local publishing and print centre at Derriford were designed by architect Nicholas Grimshaw. The local city paper, from the same publisher, Northcliffe Media group, at the same print centre, is the Plymouth 'Herald'.

Public services

Since 1973 Plymouth has been supplied water by South West Water. Prior to the 1973 take over it was supplied by Plymouth County Borough Corporation. Before the 19th century two leats were built in order to provide drinking water for the town. They carried water from Dartmoor to Plymouth. A watercourse, known as Plymouth or Drake's Leat, was opened on 24 April 1591 to tap the River Meavy. The Devonport Leat was constructed to carry fresh drinking water to the expanding dockyards at Devonport. It was fed by three Dartmoor rivers: The West Dart, Cowsic and Blackabrook. It seems to have been carrying water since 1797, but it was officially completed in 1801. It was originally designed to carry water to Devonport Dockyard, but has since been shortened and now carries water to Burrator Reservoir, which feeds most of the water supply of Plymouth. Burrator Reservoir is located about north of the city and was constructed in 1898 and later expanded in 1928.

Plymouth City Council is responsible for waste management throughout the city and South West Water is responsible for sewerage. Plymouth's electricity is supplied from the National Grid and distributed to Plymouth via Western Power Distribution. The supplier of electricity is Électricité de France (EDF) and the supplier of gas is British Gas. On the outskirts of Plympton a combined cycle gas powered station, the Langage Power Station, is due to start producing electricity for Plymouth in the winter of 2008/2009.

Plymouth is served by Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust and the city's NHS hospital is Derriford Hospital north of the city centre and there is also the Royal Eye Infirmary near the city centre. South Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust operates in Plymouth and the rest of the south west; its headquarters are in Exeter. Her Majesty's Court Service provide a Magistrates' Court, Crown and County Courts in the city. The nearest High Court is in Exeter as are the police and prosecuting headquarters. There is no prison or youth detention unit in Plymouth. The Plymouth Borough Police, formed in 1836, eventually became part of Devon and Cornwall Constabulary. There are police stations at Charles Cross and Crownhill (the Divisional HQ) and smaller stations at Plympton and Plymstock. The city has one the Devon and Cornwall Area Crown Prosecution Service Divisional offices. Plymouth has five fire stations located in Camel's Head, Crownhill, Greenbank, Plympton (West Devon HQ) and Plymstock which is part of Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service.

Notable people

People from Plymouth are known as Plymothians or less formally as Janners. The Elizabethan navigator, Sir Francis Drake is Plymouth's most notable resident. There is a Leat, a Shopping Centre, a TV series, 19 Ships and an Island named after him, as well as a statue of him touching a globe on Plymouth Hoe. He was the first Englishman to circumnavigate the world and was known by the Spanish as El Draco meaning "The Dragon" after he raided many of their ships. He died of dysentery in 1596 off the coast of Puerto Rico. In 2002 a mission to recover his body and bring it to Plymouth was allowed by the Ministry of Defence. Antarctic explorers Robert Falcon Scott and Frank Bickerton both lived in the city. Artists include Beryl Cook whose paintings depict the culture of Plymouth and the controversial Robert Lenkiewicz lived in the city from the 1960s until his death in 2002. Notable athletes include swimmer Sharon Davies, diver Tom Daley, dancer Wayne Sleep, and footballer Trevor Francis. Other past residents include composer Ron Goodwin, and journalist Angela Rippon.

Landmarks

Plymouth's main geographical feature is Plymouth Sound, which has shaped the city and given it its naval importance. After the English Civil War the Royal Citadel was built in 1666 on the east end of Plymouth Hoe, to defend the port from naval attacks, suppress Plymothian Parliamentary leanings and to train the armed forces. Further west is Smeaton's Tower, which was built in 1759 as a lighthouse on rocks off shore, but dismantled and the top two thirds rebuilt on the Hoe in 1877. Today it attracts tourists for its views over Plymouth Sound and the rest of the city, via a staircase to the glazed lantern. Plymouth has 20 war memorials of which nine are on The Hoe — most notably Plymouth Naval war memorial, to remember those killed in World War One and Two, and the National Armada memorial, to commemorate the defeat of the Spanish Armada.

The early port settlement of Plymouth called 'Sutton', approximates to the area now referred to as the Barbican and still has a few old buildings and cobbled streets. The Pilgrim Fathers left for the New World in 1620 near the commemorative Mayflower Steps in Sutton Pool. A mile upstream on the opposite side of the River Plym is the Saltram estate, which has a Jacobean and Georgian mansion.

References

• Dunning, Martin (2001). Around Plymouth. publisher.
• Gill, Crispin (1993). Plymouth: A New History. Devon Books.
• Robinson, Chris (2004). Plymouth Then & Now. Plymouth Prints.
• Casley, Nicholas (1997). The Medieval Incorporation of Plymouth and a Survey of the Borough's Bounds. Old Plymouth Society.
• Carew, Richard (1555). The Survey of Cornwall. N.B. Carew refers to Plymouth Hoe as "the Hawe at Plymmouth"
• Abercrombie, Patrick; James Watson, Laurence Stamp and Gilbert Robinson, A Plan for Plymouth. Underhill. N.B. the publication carries the date 1943, which is incorrect

External links

• Plymouth City Council website
• Plymouth Picture Postcards (mostly pre-WWII)
• The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History